Systems and methods for delivering a stored message to a subscriber

ABSTRACT

A method for delivering a stored message to a satellite radio receiver is disclosed. The method includes receiving a request to retrieve the message, receiving the message, encoding the message for satellite transmission, and transmitting the message for delivery to the satellite radio receiver.

BACKGROUND

This application is related, generally and in various embodiments, tosystems and methods for delivering a stored message to a satellite radioreceiver.

For many people, the ability to access stored messages such as text orvoice messages has allowed them to become more productive, both at workand at home. Although accessing messages from the home or office hasbecome a very common practice, accessing such messages while driving avehicle has not become as common. There are many people who do notpossess a mobile device capable of receiving stored messages. For thosewho do possess such a device, accessing messages via the device whiledriving a vehicle can be relatively unsafe and relatively expensive. Forexample, accessing stored messages via a wireless telephone or pagerusually requires a driver to take their eyes off the road for a periodof time. In addition, the airtime used to access the stored message isoften billed at a relatively expensive rate.

SUMMARY

In one general respect, this application discloses embodiments of amethod for delivering a stored message to a satellite radio receiver.According to various embodiments, the method includes receiving arequest to retrieve the message, receiving the message, encoding themessage for satellite transmission, and transmitting the message fordelivery to the satellite radio receiver.

In another general respect, this application discloses embodiments of acomputer program stored on a computer readable medium. According tovarious embodiments, the computer program includes instructions toretrieve a message stored for a subscriber, encode the message forsatellite transmission, and transmit the message for delivery to asatellite radio receiver associated with the subscriber.

Other embodiments of the disclosed invention will be or become apparentto one skilled in the art upon review of the following drawings anddetailed description. It is intended that all such additionalembodiments be included within this description, be within the scope ofthe disclosed invention, and be protected by the accompanying claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates various embodiments of a system for delivering astored message to a satellite radio receiver; and

FIG. 2 illustrates various embodiments of a process flow through thesystem of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

It is to be understood that the figures and descriptions of thedisclosed invention have been simplified to illustrate elements that arerelevant for a clear understanding of the disclosed invention, whileeliminating, for purposes of clarity, other elements. Those of ordinaryskill in the art will recognize, however, that these and other elementsmay be desirable. However, because such elements are well known in theart, and because they do not facilitate a better understanding of thepresent invention, a discussion of such elements is not provided herein.

FIG. 1 illustrates various embodiments of a system 10 for delivering astored message to a satellite radio receiver 12. The system 10 includesa wireless communication network 14, a data network 16, a service center18, a message server 20, and a satellite 22. The system 10 deliversmessages stored for a subscriber to message delivery service to asatellite radio receiver 12 associated with the subscriber.

The wireless communication network 14 is in communication with aplurality of wireless communication devices 24 and includes a basestation 26 and a mobile switching center 28. The base station 26 is incommunication with the wireless communication devices 24 and the mobileswitching center 28 is in communication with the base station 26.According to various embodiments, the wireless communication devices 24are embodied as wireless telephones, wireless pagers, wireless personaldigital assistants, or any combination thereof. The mobile switchingcenter 28 includes an interworking function 30 that supportscommunication between the wireless communication network 14 and the datanetwork 16.

The data network 16 is in communication with the wireless communicationnetwork 14. According to various embodiments, the data network 16comprises a portion of a local area network, a wide area network, ametropolitan area network, or the internet.

The service center 18 is in communication with the data network 16 andincludes a server 32 configured for encoding a message for satellitetransmission and a RF transmitter 34 for transmitting the message to thesatellite 22 for delivery to the satellite radio receiver 12. Accordingto various embodiments, the server 32 is further configured forconverting a text message retrieved from the message server 20 to avoice message. According to various embodiments, the server 32 isfurther configured for digitizing messages retrieved from the messageserver 20. Although only one service center 18 is shown in FIG. 1, it isunderstood that, according to various embodiments, the system 10includes more than one service center 18 in communication with the datanetwork 16.

The message server 20 is in communication with service center 18.According to various embodiments, the message server 20 is for storingelectronic mail messages, electronic fax messages, voice messages, orany combination thereof Although the message server 20 is shown in FIG.1 as being separate from the data network 16, it is understood that,according to various embodiments, the message server 20 comprises aportion of the data network 16. In addition, although only one messageserver 20 is shown in FIG. 1, it is understood that, according tovarious embodiments, the system 10 includes more than one message server20 in communication with the service center 18.

The satellite 22 is in communication with the service center 18 and thesatellite radio receiver 12. Although only one satellite 22 is shown inFIG. 1, it is understood that, according to various embodiments, thesystem 10 includes more than one satellite 22. It is further understoodthat, according to various embodiments, the satellite 22 is incommunication with more than one service center 18 and more than onesatellite radio receiver 12.

FIG. 2 illustrates various embodiments of a process flow through thesystem 10 of FIG. 1. The process begins at block 50 where a subscriberto a message delivery service initiates a request to have a storedmessage delivered to the subscriber via a satellite radio receiver 12associated with the subscriber. The request is initiated from a wirelesscommunication device 24 and includes identification information and apassword associated with the subscriber. According to variousembodiments, the request is initiated by calling a specific telephonenumber, entering the identification information and the password, thenselecting a message delivery option. The request is forwarded from thewireless communication device 24 to the service center 18 via thewireless communication network 14 and the data network 16.

From block 50, the process advances to block 52, where the request isreceived at the server 32 at the service center 18. The identificationinformation included with the request indicates the location of themessage server 20 that the stored message can be retrieved from, andindicates the specific satellite radio receiver 12 that the message isto be delivered to. The password included with the request serves toauthenticate that the request is a valid request from a currentsubscriber and to authorize that the message be retrieved from themessage server 20.

From block 52, the process advances to block 54, where the server 32retrieves the message from the message server 20. From block 54, theprocess advances to block 56, where the server 32 encodes the messagefor satellite transmission and forwards the message to the RFtransmitter 34. According to various embodiments, the encoding includesconverting a text message retrieved from the message server 20 to avoice message. According to other embodiments, the encoding includesdigitizing the message retrieved from the message server 20.

From block 56, the process advances to block 58, where the RFtransmitter 34 receives the message forwarded from the server 32 anduplinks the message to the satellite 22. From block 58, the processadvances to block 60, where the satellite 22 receives the messagetransmitted from the RF transmitter 34 and downlinks the message to thesatellite radio receiver 12 specified by the identification informationincluded in the request. According to various embodiments, the uplinkfrequency is different than the downlink frequency.

From block 60, the process advances to block 62, where the message isreceived at the satellite radio receiver 12, decoded, and presented inaudio form. It is understood that the satellite radio receiver 12 istuned to the downlink frequency to receive the message. From block 62,the process advances to block 64, where it is determined if thesubscriber desires to have additional stored messages delivered to thesatellite radio receiver 12.

If the subscriber does not desire to have additional stored messagesdelivered to the satellite radio receiver 12, the process advances fromblock 64 to block 66 where the process ends. If the subscriber doesdesire to have additional messages delivered to the satellite radioreceiver 12, the process returns from block 64 to block 50, where theprocess described in blocks 50-64 is repeated. According to variousembodiments, the process described in blocks 50-64 can be repeated anynumber of times.

In order to perform the processes described in blocks 54 and 56, theserver 32 may execute a series of instructions. The instructions may besoftware code to be executed by the server 32. The software code may bestored as a series of instructions or commands on a computer readablemedium such as a random access memory (RAM) and/or a read only memory(ROM), a magnetic medium such as a hard-drive or a floppy disk, or anoptical medium such as a CD-ROM. The software code may be written in anysuitable programming language using any suitable programming technique.For example, the software code may be written in C using proceduralprogramming techniques, or in Java or C++ using object-orientedprogramming techniques.

While several embodiments of the disclosed invention have beendescribed, it should be apparent, however, that various modifications,alterations and adaptations to those embodiments may occur to personsskilled in the art with the attainment of some or all of the advantagesof the disclosed invention. For example, according to variousembodiments, the subscriber, at block 50, initiates a request that aplurality of stored messages be delivered to the satellite radioreceiver 12. It is therefore intended to cover all such modifications,alterations and adaptations without departing from the scope and spiritof the disclosed invention as defined by the appended claims.

1. A method for delivering a stored message to a satellite radioreceiver, the method comprising: receiving a request to retrieve themessage; receiving the message; encoding the message for satellitetransmission; and transmitting the message for delivery to the satelliteradio receiver.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the requestincludes receiving the request via a wireless communication device. 3.The method of claim 2, wherein receiving the request via the wirelesscommunication device includes receiving the request via a wirelesstelephone.
 4. The method of claim 2, wherein receiving the request viathe wireless communication device includes receiving the request via awireless pager.
 5. The method of claim 2, wherein receiving the requestvia the wireless communication device includes receiving the request viaa wireless personal digital assistant.
 6. The method of claim 1, whereinreceiving the request includes receiving identification informationassociated with a subscriber.
 7. The method of claim 6, whereinreceiving the request includes receiving a password associated with thesubscriber.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the messageincludes retrieving the message from a message server.
 9. The method ofclaim 8, wherein retrieving the message from the message server includesretrieving a text message.
 10. The method of claim 9, wherein retrievingthe text message includes retrieving an electronic mail message.
 11. Themethod of claim 9, wherein retrieving the text message includesretrieving an electronic fax message.
 12. The method of claim 8, whereinretrieving the message from the message server includes retrieving avoice message.
 13. The method of claim 1, wherein encoding the messagefor satellite transmission includes converting the message to a voicemessage.
 14. The method of claim 1, wherein encoding the message forsatellite transmission includes digitizing the message.
 15. The methodof claim 1, wherein transmitting the message for delivery to thesatellite radio receiver includes uplinking the message to a satellite.16. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving the message atthe satellite radio receiver; decoding the message; and presenting themessage in audio form.
 17. A computer program stored on a computerreadable medium, the computer program comprising instructions to:retrieve a message stored for a subscriber; and encode the message forsatellite transmission.
 18. The computer program of claim 17, furthercomprising instructions to convert the message to an audio message. 19.The computer program of claim 17, further comprising instructions todigitize the message.
 20. A system for delivering a stored message to asatellite radio receiver, the system comprising: means for receiving arequest to retrieve the message; means for receiving the message; meansfor encoding the message for satellite transmission; and means fortransmitting the message for delivery to the satellite radio receiver.